Title: Exploring the consumer preference for bank: a conjoint analysis approach

Authors: Kushagra Kulshreshtha; Gunjan Sharma

Addresses: Institute of Business Management, GLA University, 17km Stone, NH-2, Mathura-Delhi Road P.O., Chaumuhan, Mathura-281 406 (U.P.), India ' Institute of Business Management, GLA University, 17km Stone, NH-2, Mathura-Delhi Road P.O., Chaumuhan, Mathura-281 406 (U.P.), India

Abstract: Much ink has been used to study bank selection criteria from the last couple of decades. However, it was observed that the previous research works were mostly based on the students' samples using exploratory factor analysis (EFA), mean ranking, or descriptive analysis. Moreover, in the context of the bank, signalling theory and the issue of social desirability bias (SDB) were certainly not addressed. Thus, the purpose of this research was to explore the bank selection criteria of wealthy single urbanites (WSU) by proposing the technique i.e. conjoint analysis useful for avoiding SDB using signalling theory. With the sample of WSUs (n = 419), the study demonstrates that WSUs are more sensitive towards the attitude of employees and banks socially responsible actions, followed by the appearance of frontline employees, less crowded counters, availability of parking space, and opinion of friends in choosing any bank.

Keywords: consumer preference; conjoint analysis; banks; customers; marketers; wealthy single urbanites; WSU; desirability bias; SDB.

DOI: 10.1504/IJEMR.2026.150308

International Journal of Electronic Marketing and Retailing, 2026 Vol.17 No.1, pp.1 - 18

Received: 11 Jun 2021
Accepted: 10 Feb 2022
Published online: 09 Dec 2025 *

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